Report Sharansky Formally Charged with Being a Spy for the U.S.

Anatoly Sharansky, a Soviet Jewish activist, has been formally charged with “being a spy for the United States,” the National Conference on Soviet Jewry (NCSJ) said today. The NCSJ said the report of the charge was carried today in the Soviet news agency Tass and that it had learned of the report from Sharansky’s wife who is in London. Sharansky was jailed last month following accusations that he worked for the Central Intelligence Agency. On March 15 he was seized by Soviet secret police and taken to the notorious Lefortovo Prison in Moscow.

The NCSJ also reported it learned today that losif Begun, a Jewish dissident, will go on trial for “parasitism” on May 6. The charge carries a penalty of up to one year at a forced labor camp. Begun has been under detention since early March.